Ex-lawmaker still may face prosecution over ticket scalping

State lawmakers have been warned at least three times in the past two years that they are not allowed to scalp their Ohio State football tickets for a profit.

Both Senate President Bill M. Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted said today that members should have been aware of the law, which allegedly has been violated for years by former Rep. John Widowfield, a Cuyahoga Falls Republican who resigned Wednesday after he apparently purchased tickets with campaign money and sold them online for a profit.

His resignation followed a closed-door meeting of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which had begun investigating his alleged scalping activities.

Widowfield's departure doesn't mean he has escaped legal trouble. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, who is responsible for handling potential criminal issues related to the Statehouse, said he met this afternoon with Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe and representatives of the secretary of state's office to discuss the Widowfield situation.

O'Brien would not comment on where the investigation is headed. Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, also declined comment.

Campaign reports show that Widowfield spent more than $7,700 on football tickets from 2002 to 2006. Buying tickets with campaign money is legal; reselling them for a profit is a violation of both state campaign-finance and ethics laws.

“Any legislator or legislative employee who obtains a ticket because of her status as a public official or employee may not sell that ticket in order to realize a personal profit,” Bledsoe wrote in a memo to lawmakers on Nov. 14, 2006, just before the Michigan-Ohio State game, when the teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation.

Sources close to the Ethics Committee said Widowfield sold four tickets to that game, netting $6,000. He allegedly used a staffer to meet ticket-buyers at the Blackwell Hotel, near Ohio Stadium.

Responding to a request, Bledsoe released copies of three memos today that he has sent to lawmakers to remind them that the tickets they get from Ohio State cannot be sold for a profit. The other memos were issued before the national championship games that Ohio State played in January 2007 and 2008.

Harris, R-Ashland, said he recommends to members that they use their own money, not campaign cash, to buy tickets, which are made available to every state lawmaker by OSU. He said he buys Ohio State tickets and gives most of them away.

“They're a great commodity,” Harris said. “One of the benefits of being here is, you can get those tickets.”